The adult carer quality of life questionnaire (AC-QoL): comparison with measures of burden and well-being, and Italian validation

摘要

Purpose: Family caregivers are essential assets in the rehabilitation process, and their psychophysical health should represent a concern for healthcare services. This study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the Adult Carer Quality of Life Questionnaire, Italian version, and its convergent-discriminant validity with measures of caring burden, resilience, health, and well-being. Materials and Methods: Participants were 591 parents (89.2% females;aged 25-69) of children treated as outpatients in 14 centers of "Istituto Medea-La Nostra Famiglia", an Italian rehabilitation institution. They completed: Adult Carer Quality of Life Questionnaire, a 40-item scale assessing care-related challenges, resources, and benefits; Caregiver Burden Inventory;Resilience Scale for Adults; Satisfaction With Life Scale; Health Survey SF-36. The psychometric properties of the Adult Carer Quality of Life Questionnaire were investigated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and reliability evaluation;correlation coefficients assessed convergent and discriminant validity with burden and well-being measures. Results: The original eight-factor structure of the Adult Carer Quality of Life Questionnaire showed good adequacy and internal consistency; convergent and discriminant validity with measures of burden, resilience, satisfaction, physical and mental health were satisfactory. Conclusions: The Italian version of the Adult Carer Quality of Life Questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument to assess caregivers' perceived challenges and resources. As a parsimonious and easily administrable tool, it can be used to evaluate caregivers' quality of life and related interventions